


its wrath YEAR actually

by pocketpauling



Series: black mesa trauma club official meeting room [1]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Multi, give me trans gordon or give me death, i love these boys........... please love these boys, im going wild im going stupid going crazy, pride month prompts!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24496162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocketpauling/pseuds/pocketpauling
Summary: Fun little slices of life, directly from the boys, just one click away.This is where I'm putting my Tommy/Benry/Gordon oneshots for the daily [INSERT MONTH HERE] writing prompts. Flufftober begins I promise I'll do better this time.
Relationships: Gordon/Benry (HLVRAI), Gordon/Benry/Tommy (HLVRAI), Gordon/Tommy (HLVRAI), Tommy/Benry (HLVRAI)
Series: black mesa trauma club official meeting room [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769725
Comments: 87
Kudos: 406





	1. so. he doesnt know what thunder is

**Author's Note:**

> June 1st prompt - Storm! 
> 
> :3c

Benry knew what rain was.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew about it, because it happened in his cool and good favorite PlayStation games, even though he’s never left Black Mesa’s dorms and workplace long enough to actually see it in real life. It was an outside thing. He’s not really an outside kind of person.

Still, rain just _sounded_ nice. It sounded nice when he was just laying in bed, incapable of sleeping, like always. It was calming, like his Sweet Voice, but without the blue taste. Sweet Voice was better, though. Sounded nicer. Not by much. Blue raspberry flavored. Rain was just water. Whoever came up with it must have been really boring.

Benry had been laying there for hours, and, at about 3 in the morning, the rain turned heavy. Still sounded nice! A little scary, since it almost sounded like it was drilling through the roof, but nice.

Of course, Gordon and Tommy were already asleep. They’d fallen asleep hours ago, and Benry had been trying his hardest to just lay still and let them sleep for once. Like the manlet he is, he was snuggled up between them, listening to them snore as the rain kept getting worse. They were still sound asleep, like it wasn’t so, so loud and so, so unnerving. They must think this is normal. Maybe it was. It shouldn’t be.

He was busy trying to fight the urge to wake them up out of boredom when a crack of thunder made the entire house _shake_. Like it was going to fall apart, like something was really, seriously wrong.

Benry knew what rain was. He did _not_ know what thunder was.

There was a scream, which definitely did _not_ come from his mouth. He didn’t scream like that. He was _not_ a baby, and this was not terrifying, and he did _not_ understand why the other two weren’t reacting at _all._

A groan came from the Gordon side of the bed, "Benry, what the _fuck._ " More like, uh – Gordon, what the fuck? Hello? The guy who’s worried about everything on planet Earth is just going to sleep through whatever the fuck _that_ was?

A second crack of thunder, louder than the first, and Benry had had enough of sleeping out in the open air.

Tommy was still snoring as Benry climbed under the blankets. He didn’t even care if he was kicking them by accident, this was so fucked up. This is so fucked. There is no fucking _way_ he’s going to feel safe unless he’s underneath the covers.

Someone’s hands were grabbing his arm, and he panicked instantly. His mind jumped to the worst conclusions – the military is here for them, they’re going to kill them – oh, Gordon. Yeah, that makes sense.

"Benry, baby, can you calm down? _Please_." The exhaustion in his voice is _extremely_ apparent – Gordon doesn’t call him ‘baby’ unless he’s really mad or he’s too tired to apply a filter to what he’s saying. It’s almost the entire reason Benry still fights with him these days. The pet name calmed him down almost instantaneously, which is something he would never tell anyone.

Tommy is half-awake now, too, trying to find Benry’s hand under the blankets. "What’s wrong with Benry?"

"Dunno. Benry, what the fuck is wrong with you? Can’t you at least _try_ to act like a normal person?" Gordon dragged him up and out from his position cowering under the blankets between them, and he looked _pissed_. Haha. This sucks.

They hadn’t been all sleeping in the same bed together for a long time, but every single time it was always Benry waking them up in the middle of the night for no reason, just because he thought it’d be funny or because he was bored.

It became apparent really quickly that something _was_ wrong, for once. Gordon’s eyes adjusted to the dark, finally, and his expression softened. Benry figured that he must look terrified if it made Gordon look at him like that, like he felt sorry for him. Fuck.

Benry couldn’t even begin to stop himself from babbling out of fear, "I’m sorry, I didn’t – there’s something outside and – "

"’S just thunder, Benry," Tommy mumbled, finally grabbing Benry’s hand in his. "Happens when it rains sometimes, it’s fine."

"I didn’t – _what?_ "

Silence fell over the room, and Gordon just sighed.

He was judging him. He was judging how dumb he was, and he wasn’t going to love him after this, because Benry was just stupid and no one wants to be around someone this stupid. Jesus Christ. Thunder? How was he supposed to know _this_ is what thunder was like? Thunder was just, like, ambient noise in Minecraft. There’s no way its supposed to shake the whole house like they’re in a fucking earthquake.

"Thunder, Benry. Do you not know what thunder is?"

" _Of course_ I know what thunder is, Feetman."

"Then why are you acting like you _don’t_? Have you never heard thunder before?"

"What?"

Finally, Tommy decided that he’d had enough, and tried his best to hug the two of them against himself. It was mostly a bid to get them to stop arguing, but damn if it didn’t make Benry feel a whole lot safer. "Oh my god, can you two shut _up_? ‘M sick of it. Go to bed."

Gordon laughed, almost silently, and kissed the top of Benry’s head.

"I’ll explain thunder to you in the morning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont ask me where i got these prompts. im gonna tell u anyway. my friend got them from somewhere and i saw them and said "im going to make this about benry and tommy and gordon now" and then i did. 
> 
> this is gonna be actually rly bad quality compared to my Main Fic That Im Still Thinking About Right Now. thinkin about those boys...........


	2. whats the opposite of stripping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June 2nd - Rainbow
> 
> Except, not the real kind.

Tommy was just ordering matching sweaters for the team. That's all he was doing.

Matching rainbow sweaters! Even if he didn't know their sizes, he could just guess, probably. And, by 'guess,' he meant everyone gets an XL, because that's usually the _best_ size if you don't know what size to get.

An XL would fit Dr. Coomer and Mr. Freeman for sure, and it'd leave Bubby, Benry, and Tommy with larger sweaters that were fun to flap their arms around in. The dream! It was the perfect plan.

It was the perfect plan until the day came for the package to arrive, and it came in 5 different boxes. Okay, the sweaters weren't... this big, surely. They don't make sweaters this big. Unless they do, and if they do, Tommy was not aware of it. The receipt said that it was 5 XL sweaters – he checked. He checked, he was _so_ sure he checked.

Benry didn’t help him drag the boxes inside. It was the middle of the day, and Gordon was off doing who-knows-what, out at some park with Josh, and that left the two of them alone in the house. That meant Benry was going to play Animal Crossing all day while Tommy paced around, trying to come up with things to do.

Well, now there was something to do! That something was unpacking about fifty rainbow sweaters.

Someone at the warehouse had fucked up _real_ bad.

Benry didn’t want to help, of course, but once he realized the situation, it was all he could focus on. Animal Crossing be damned, this shit was fucking _hilarious._ Tommy’s panic over suddenly owning 50 sweaters was directly opposite Benry’s pure excitement.

He was pulling the identical sweaters out of their boxes and onto the floor as fast as possible, tearing their plastic packaging apart with his teeth, laughing like a kid the whole time, "Holy shit, Tommy, how many of these did you order?"

"Five! I just wanted five, I don’t know what happened!"

Benry just kept laughing, pulling one over his head and over his shirt. It was – well, it was pretty big on him, but not by too much. Comfy. Tommy sure knew how to pick clothes that have good textures.

He had a pile of about 20 next to him at this point, and it was taking all his willpower not to just… put them on. Put them all on.

Put them all on right now, right this moment.

Tommy just stood there, shocked, as Benry pulled one more sweater on. And, then, another. And another.

He sat down in front of him, trying to stop him from putting on a fifth rainbow sweater, grabbing the top of the sweater to keep Benry from pulling it down all the way. "Benry, no! You’re gonna overheat!"

Benry’s voice was muffled by the sweater over his head at the moment, "Nooooo… Tommy, let me go… let me do this, I have to…"

"No!!"

Benry broke out of Tommy’s grip easily and scrambled to put more on as fast as possible, managing 3 more before Tommy grabbed him again, begging him to stop before he hurt himself somehow.

"Watch, watch, this is so fucking – this is gonna be great – " Benry couldn’t finish his sentence, breaking down into giggles as his boyfriend was struggling to pull the sweaters back up and over his head.

Gordon opened the door to a very worried Tommy pinning a very sweatered-up Benry down on the floor, surrounded by copies of the same exact sweater Benry was wearing, and it was immediately too much to handle. He almost dropped Josh in his laughing fit, collapsing in the doorway, causing Tommy to abandon Benry to rush to help him back up. This, of course, left Benry to pull on even more sweaters.

He hit 15 before he passed out laughing on the living room floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi this was a struggle to write and thats why its so short. anxiety sickness has been kicking my ass these past few days. :/ and i know its rly messy but i thought itd be funny haha. its funny. look me in the eyes. its funny. the concept of benry just passing out laughing is funny. let benry laugh so hard he passes out
> 
> tomorrow is first date but i............. whos date...... 3 of them........ 3 of them


	3. check, please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June 3rd - First Date
> 
> eh, kinda.

Benry and Gordon had their first date a long time ago, shortly after escaping Black Mesa, just after Benry had woken up in Gordon’s home. Neither had known it was a date, but Dr. Coomer and Bubby and Tommy had known. So, in the end, it was.

Tommy and Benry had their first date a long time ago, too, but theirs was before the day of the resonance cascade, late at night over Mario Kart and frozen pizzas and cheap wine. Both had wished it were a date, unbeknownst to the other. So, in the end, it was.

The only issue, at this point, was that Tommy and Gordon had _not_ had a date. Not one by any of the regular metrics. Nothing one-on-one. And that was fine, they both loved Benry. They both loved having him around so, so much. No bitterness at _all_. No sarcasm.

Though, maybe, there was a feeling that maybe they had missed out on that ‘first date’ thing. Months into the relationship was a weird time to bring it up with the other person, though.

So, they vented to Benry, and Benry made a _plan_ , and Benry put that plan into _action_ as soon as he deemed was the right time to do it. Which, according to him, was the next day.

Benry was sending them out for something, some game from GameStop, or something equally dumb – any excuse to get them out of the house, since Gordon was the only one who could drive and Tommy should go along to help Gordon not fuck it up like he always did.

He whined and begged his two useless, gay boyfriends to go get him his new game until they gave up, because it was so much simpler to just do what Benry asked than it was to argue with him about something like this.

The GameStop was all the way across town. It was 45 minutes there, 45 minutes back, with optimal traffic patterns. Benry had very little time to waste.

* * *

By the time they had made it home, the house was dark. The lights were out, and, as Gordon pushed the door open, the silence was absolutely fucking unnerving. Benry was _always_ loud, especially home alone, since he didn’t have to worry about disturbing anyone while he watched Josh.

But it was quiet now. Gordon really wished he still had some kind of weapon on him.

He pushed the door open, Tommy holding onto his shirt as he followed close behind him, peeking over his shoulder. The lights were off in the living room, but there _was_ light coming from the dining room, and a single shadow moving stuff around.

Gordon relaxed, just a bit, realizing that it was just Benry. Just Benry, doing something stupid, like Benry always did. This didn’t mean they weren’t going to get hurt, but at least it was by someone they _knew._

He met them in the soft darkness of the living room, boxes stacked up to block them off from the table in the dining room, smiling like he was about to do something wild. Gordon did _not_ have a good feeling about this.

"You got a reservation?" Benry was smiling too hard for his words to have the effect they should have, which was to call back to the dumb passport joke he’d latched onto in Black Mesa, just to mess with them.

Gordon didn’t think it was very funny, and his face showed it. "Don’t. Don’t do this to me today."

Benry didn’t let Gordon’s killjoy energy bother him – he just kept smiling as he grabbed his arm and led the two of them to the table he had set for them. "Just wondering if you had a reservation, man. Don’t gotta be like that."

He didn’t have to do much convincing to get them to sit down, since it just seemed like he was setting them up for some stupid, harmless bit he’d planned – and, of course, he’d only sent them out for the game so they’d give him the space he needed to do all this work.

While Gordon was looking for the worst in the situation, Tommy was trying to keep himself from laughing at his face, and Benry’s whole – his whole _everything_ , the way he was putting so much effort into something like this. Benry didn’t do this kind of thing unless he really thought the payoff was going to be hilarious, so this had to be good.

Benry scrambled back to his box pile-slash-wall, and grabbed two pieces of paper, bringing them back to the table and handing them to his two boyfriends, with a mention of tonight’s menu, something-or-other. He was mumbling, and Gordon didn’t care much to hear what he said.

Not on purpose. He didn’t mean to ignore Benry on purpose, but what ended up being on the ‘menu’ he had given them caused Gordon to put his head in his hands and almost _cry._

Tommy had skimmed it, stopped, reread it, and reread it a third time before he broke down too, into both tears and laughter.

Benry’s menu had a main course. It was written clearly, right at the top of the page, right after ‘Menu,’ and it said – it said _spaggenti._ It said spaggenti was the main course, served with bread and saland, and it was enough to cause both of them to laugh until the room was spinning and their chests hurt.

Gordon waved to Benry to take the paper because he couldn’t fucking handle it, Benry was too good at whatever the fuck this was. His secret skill.

Benry did take their menus. He wasted no time in bringing in plates of spaggenti and bread and saland for the two of them, and left them to it, because this wasn’t his date. He’d had his first dates, one for each of them. Maybe it was time they stopped missing out. Neither of them had ever had a date like this, exactly, but that was fine. Life was full of firsts! And this was one of the better firsts, in his opinion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> was going to write a long ass angst-riddled freelatta date but i realized i dont want ANGST today i want benry being a good boyfriend and i want jokes. im saving the freelatta angst for the main fic. dont worry youll see it sometime soon bc tommy angst is the house where i live. i built it myself. its going to fuckin collapse on me someday


	4. thats poggers, babe!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June 4 - Identity Shenanigans
> 
> what if i told you i dont know what this means

Whoever the fuck **feetguy320xxx** was in chat, Gordon was getting sick of them _real_ quick.

It was bad enough that, today of all days, Tommy and Benry had been too sick to mod for him. Both of them had decided to stay in bed all day, sleeping as much as humanly – or, uh, inhumanly? – possible to get over whatever the fuck they had caught, which left Gordon without anyone to keep an eye on chat.

Most of the chat had been fine, and he’d been able to take care of most of the weirdos, but now this fucking _loser_ was bothering him about his feet, which – one time. It was _one_ time he had knocked the camera over onto the floor. He hadn’t meant to flash his feet to his audience of over, like, one thousand people, but now this loser was in here going on and on about it. In, like… the weirdest way. The most uncomfortable way. A whole stranger, bothering him for feet pics, _publicly._ In front of God and _everyone_.

Gordon had told them off just once, when he was setting everything up, hoping that ignoring them afterwards would be enough to convince them to stop.

It wasn’t.

He couldn’t just ban the dude for being slightly weird, and it was probably just a joke, but they were quickly getting into weird pseudo-flirting that Gordon just did not have the time or emotional strength for. He was busy, though. He’d lose all his fucking progress in this shitty game that didn’t even let you pause. He glanced down at chat for a second while fighting the same boss for a fifth time, and - oh, great.

 **feetguy320xxx:** hey uhhhh you got a wikifeet page or what dude im looking for more material

Oh, man. That was it. Enough was enough.

Gordon tabbed out – leaving the game running and, of course, dying in the process – and banned this motherfucker _permanently_. No more feet jokes. He got those enough from Benry.

Speaking of Benry, he appeared in the doorway to the stream room almost immediately after Gordon banned that freak.

He was tired, for sure. This was the most exhausted Gordon had ever seen him. Whatever this alien sickness was, it was really taking it out on both of them, and he could tell it was awful. Like, full-on flu awful. But worse, maybe. Gordon hadn’t seen any symptoms of it in himself yet after a few days of taking care of them, so hopefully it was just a _them_ thing. 

The only thing the audience could see at the moment was a very concerned Gordon talking to his off-screen boyfriend, voice a lot softer than usual, “Hey, Benry, you doing okay?”

“Gordonnnn, how could you do this to meeeeeeee…”

“What are you talking – hey, hold up – ”

“You can’t ban your own boyfriend, man, that’s not cool…”

Benry had shuffled over, tired as hell, and crawled right up onto his lap, in the stupid ‘gaming chair’ that Dr. Coomer had sent them mysteriously one day. Little ‘Happy Birthday, Gordon!’ card attached and everything. His birthday was _five months_ from then, but sure, Dr. Coomer. Thank you.

His head was in the crook of Gordon’s neck, muttering about how unfair he treated him, how he couldn’t believe he would do this to him, today, of all days, while he was _sick_ and about to _die_.

The webcam, of course, caught it all and broadcasted it like it was meant to. Gordon, red-faced, switched both it and his mic off as soon as he possibly could, and kept playing in absolute silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> srry i missed a few days lifes been the way life always is. you know. the other 2 chapters i owe yall ARE going up in the next few hours but idk when
> 
> NOT nsfw at the end gordons just kissin his bf to say sorry for banning him even tho he does think that benry deserved to be banned. he does not understand why benry has like 20 alts on justin tv tho. what the fuck dude 
> 
> tommys still sleepin off the sickness hes bein good and stayin in bed. dont worry about him he will be ok he will just watch the vod and die of second-hand embarrassment bc gordon didnt know it was benry when obviously. obviously.
> 
> gordon being like NO!!! DONT FLIRT W ME!!! DONT CARE!!!!! STOP DOING IT. I HAVE BOYFRIENDS. is my lifeblood feed me dedicated partners til i fucking die


	5. no talk me im angy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June 5 - AU free for all
> 
> which means i get to make the saddest, shortest au imaginable

The day of the resonance cascade, a second before he was slated to go into the test chamber, Gordon quit his job.

He was sick of it, sick of the low wages and the sleepless nights and the unpaid overtime keeping him from raising his son right. This security guard, Benry, and the harassment he’d experienced that day at the workplace leading up to the experiment, it was the last straw. His sudden departure from the team would send the timeframe for the experiment way off course – eventually resulting in 2 billion dollars in losses and the burning of at least three US military contract-related bridges.

Black Mesa would, of course, recover. They’d be just fine, with their cut-throat business practices and their cutting of corners (and pita bread). But, right now? Gordon was leaving the building, permanently. He was leaving, going back home to spend time with his son and look for employment elsewhere. Aperture Science was literally _always_ hiring. He could apply there. He’d be better off there. He’d be better off literally anywhere but here.

Benry had been just behind him when he made his decision, and it had been the mental equivalent of being stabbed in the chest, and the worst part was that he knew _why_. This was the main character of the game, he didn’t get to just – he _couldn’t_ just walk out, not now.

But he did. He cleared out his locker, right next to Tommy’s, got himself out of the HEV suit, and was walking out on them.

Dr. Coomer trailed behind him, telling him, begging him to stay, he was needed in the test chamber, but Benry knew he wouldn’t listen. Somehow. Somehow, he knew the way Gordon was written to be – a lovable, extremely stubborn, goodie-goodie dork that Benry was created specifically to be the foil to. He knew Gordon like they were friends, which is exactly what his memory told him they were.

Tommy and Benry made eye contact from opposite ends of the hall as Gordon yelled something about overtime hours and fair wages. He was right, of course, but none of that _mattered._ He was so caught up on something that was minor in the story, _almost_ the way he was supposed to be, but something was wrong.

His writing was corrupted, or something else equally awful. Someone making a cruel joke.

Tommy didn’t understand this, exactly. Not right now. Maybe he would never have the chance to, if Gordon kept going. But, in the moment, he knew something was wrong. The same thing in their brains that made them do things sometimes that they really didn’t want to, the alarm bells that emblazoned the word “ERROR” in their minds every fifteen minutes, it was telling them all that this wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

Benry and Tommy both felt it worse than the others, of course. Dr. Coomer was still a freshly generated tutorial NPC with no lore, and unnamed scientist #69 had yet to even be given a name by the AI fucking up their code. That left the twist antagonist and the son of the most powerful entity in the game to know what they lost. But only kind of.

Something really important. _Someone_ really important. Someone who... who could have been really, really important to them. Even if they had no way of knowing it, he could have given them an actual future outside of Black Mesa.

That was the last thing they had the opportunity to think about before Gordon stepped back onto the tram, box of personal items in hand, and the map unloaded for the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DONT talk to me. i was thinking abt what if gordon just turned around and left. like it was real life. like it wasnt a video game, like he could just quit and the world would go on. but it didnt. so the game ends there :/
> 
> tommy and benry both knowing more abt the nature of the game at the beginning solidarity. dr coomer only realizes later on when he tries to leave so. yeah. BUBBY DIDNT EVEN GET A NAME YET HES STILL UNNAMED................... this is the nature of the npc


	6. my peanus weanus haha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June 6 - Discovery
> 
> aka Benry figures something out about Gordon's whole dick-slip situation 
> 
> this is not nsfw it just mentions packers thank u bless

Like every week, the Neo Science Team (and Benry) convened at Gordon’s house for a ‘potluck.’ Not a potluck in the traditional sense of the word, considering the people involved, but it was close enough. Bubby and Dr. Coomer just brought, like, seven different store-bought cakes instead of any real dinner-related foods. They do this _every_ week. Gordon had to give the unopened ones to his fucking neighbors _every week_.

It was nice, though. It was nice to see each other so often, after what happened. Even months later, staying in touch like this helped them all cope with the Black Mesa incident in ways they couldn’t even begin to explain.

The conversations rarely skewed Black Mesa-related, regardless of the reason they had all gotten together, but tonight was different. Benry had started an argument, intentionally or no, and Gordon was going to finish it.

He was the only one at the table who had stood up at the allegations, angry at being accused of this stupid shit _again_. This was supposed to be over. In the past. Dead with the United States Military.

“There wasn’t a dick slip! It’s fucking _impossible_!”

Benry just sunk back in his chair, crossing his arms, and mumbled under his breath, “Saw it with my own eyes.”

Gordon was seeing red. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t – it didn’t make sense. It was impossible for him to have a dick slip, he wouldn’t have. He would have been the first person to realize.

“Now, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer’s voice came from the seat to his right, hand on his arm, trying to calm him down. “You should just apologize for causing _all_ of this with your inappropriate behavior in the workplace.”

It didn’t calm him down, surprisingly enough. He shook his arm free of Dr. Coomer’s grip, which wasn’t even that strong at the moment, and backed up from the table. His hands were raised defensively, instinctively. “I didn’t do _anything_! It’s not possible! I’m telling you, he was seeing things!”

Tommy took a second to stop chugging his fifth can of soda that night to try and stop them from fighting, “Maybe, uh, maybe you just didn’t notice? I didn’t – I never noticed, so maybe – maybe, it wasn’t that bad? But it still happened? Maybe…”

Gordon was constantly floored at Tommy’s ability to back both him and Benry at the same exact time. How could everyone just believe everything Benry told them, no questions asked? Gordon didn’t even – oh, he knew why this was happening. Fuck. Okay, this required some explaining.

He sat back down in his seat, putting his head in his hands and dreading the conversation he was going to have to have with, at the very least, Benry. If not the _entire_ table. Benry, sitting directly across from him, seemed to pick up on the fact that Gordon was going to admit something.

He did not know exactly what Gordon was going to admit, but he could guess. He could guess, and he could guess so, _so_ wrong. “Oh my God… bro, you did, didn’t you? You’re admitting it? You’re telling the truth? You gonna tell the truth to everyone, about your terrible dick slip that ruined my whole life?”

Bubby, somewhere to Gordon’s right, wherever he ended up sitting after hopping chairs the whole night, laughed his stupid old man laugh at Benry’s words. God, he’d show them. He’d show them how awful they were being to him right now. He’d get the last laugh.

He had wanted to have a civil discussion, he wanted to talk about this like adults, but Benry wouldn’t have a conversation like a human being. He wasn’t capable of it. So Gordon had to play hardball, do something he’d probably regret.

Benry had turned his attention to drinking his glass of Cherry Pepsi when Gordon stood, again, and reached his hands down his own pants. The sight of it was so absolutely fucking shocking that he sprayed soda out of his nose and onto the plate in front of him. Ah, shit. There goes the dinner he wouldn’t have eaten anyway. The rest of the table just sat there, disgustingly captivated with the bizarre scene in front of them. What the _fuck_ was Gordon’s deal?

Benry _was_ laughing, though, at the idea that Gordon would just do that in front of his whole group of friends. Dude was a lot weirder than he wanted everyone to believe he was. “Haha, what the fuck, dude, we’re at the, uh, dinner table – ” His brain short circuited when Gordon produced a, a – uh, a whole, an entire fucking dick from his – Jesus Christ. “What the _fuck_?”

Gordon was, of course, too preoccupied with making his point to feel embarrassed right now. “It’s not possible for me to have a dick slip, genius, I don’t _have_ a dick!”

This left Benry nearly speechless. How could he not know? How long had they been dating, and he was just assuming – fuck, God. Great. This was going to be their whole night, now. Gordon was going to want to _talk_ about it. “Oh my God. What the fuck. Gordon, what the fuck?”

Dr. Coomer, who had been covering his mouth with a hand like he hadn’t been the one to say the phrase ‘my peanus weanus’ to Gordon in Black Mesa, _fully sincere_ , finally turned on Benry.

“Benry! Shame on you. There’s no need to be transphobic!”

“I’m not! I’m not, _I’m_ trans, but I – I just – I thought it was a real, uh, I thought it was – I’m _sorry_ – ”

Gordon shoved the packer into his pocket, not wanting to bother with it at the moment, not at the dinner table. His face was turning pink as he realized exactly what he had done, in front of his entire group of friends, but it was so much more worth it to get Benry to apologize about something. “Yeah, well, maybe now you can shut the fuck up about it, huh?”

Tommy, who had been zoning out for a good portion of the conversation beforehand, broke the awkward silence in the room.

“Uh, didn’t… you guys didn’t already know?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah. gordon trans
> 
> thanks holly for making dr coomer say "my peanus weanus is tingle wingles" and by that i mean youve fucking put a curse on me holly youve ruined my life
> 
> benry gonna get yelled at later for real! tommys known for a while bc he found it in gordon's drawers when he was looking for a spare gordon shirt to steal 😳
> 
> oh yeah im @bonkatomicbitch on twitter i post a lot of hlvrai related things. im that bitch that made the bubby in his tube keychain irl


	7. take a break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No prompt! Off the rails! A continuation of sick Benry, but now it's... freelatta! Look at it now or ill cry

Gordon had carried Benry's tiny five-foot-nothing ass back to the bedroom after the stream, planning to just plop him in the bed and microwave some leftovers for himself while his boyfriends rested. Just gonna drop him and go, not let himself be distracted by how adorable they looked snuggled up together or anything. Just... leave Benry and get out. He had to eat _sometime_.

This plan, of course, derailed. Not due to anything Benry was doing, no. Benry was fully asleep, snoring softly, and Gordon knew that when he fell asleep he probably wouldn't be awake for next twelve hours. No, this wasn't a Benry type of distraction.

Tommy was laying on the very edge of the bed, the side closest to the door, covers kicked off and face flushed from whatever horrible fever this alien sickness was giving him. He was... well, Gordon hadn't ever been great at articulating how attractive he thought people were, so take that for what you will.

As for this mysterious alien flu, Gordon was so, so thankful he hadn't caught it. And he was so, so thankful Joshua was with Rory this week.

He maneuvered over to the other side of the room to let Benry down onto the bed, careful not to wake him lest he decide to wake Tommy up too, which wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Benry didn't think much about the consequences of his actions, for better or for worse. 

Gordon had to stop himself from just dropping Benry onto the floor when he realized that, oh, fuck, Tommy was slipping off of the other end of the bed. Why was he just? On the edge of it? What kind of fever-fighting strategy was that? Nothing Tommy or Benry did made _any_ fucking sense. Aliens, man.

He did manage to untangle Benry from himself in time to scramble over to help Tommy back up, thankfully. The guy was barely conscious, eyes fluttering open just enough to recognize that yes, it's Gordon, you're fine, everything's okay, baby, go back to sleep. Gordon didn't _say_ these things, but at this point he didn't even have to. Tommy just smiled and leaned into his touch, like he'd really just said all that out loud. Psychic boyfriend connection. 

Gordon had a bad habit of never wanting to leave them alone, not for a moment. Or, a good habit, if you were Tommy or Benry. A very, very good habit that they took advantage of whenever they could.

He moved Tommy over to the middle of the bed, which was easier said than done - he was so tired. Both of them were so fucking tired. But he managed it, and laid down right next to him, partially to keep Tommy from finding a way to fall off of it, but mostly so he could run his fingers through Tommy's hair and ask him how he was doing.

"Hey, bud, how's the fever treating you?"

"'M okay, 's fine, just a fever. Don't worry about me, Gordon."

Tommy using his first name was never going to get old, no matter how many times he did it. How he managed to take something so mundane and make it so impossibly intimate was beyond him. "How could I _not_ worry? I don't even know what you guys are sick with. I didn't know Benry could _get_ sick." 

Tommy just laughed at that, nearly silent, trying not to cause a coughing fit in the process. Gordon was so needlessly worried about everyone all the time. It was tiring. And, if it was tiring for even Tommy to put up with, it must be exhausting for Gordon to live with constantly. Poor guy needed a vacation. 

His favorite neurotic boyfriend was currently in the process of scanning every inch of his face, looking for some indication of whether or not he was about to immediately die of whatever he'd caught from Benry. He'd relaxed, just a bit, when he realized nothing was wrong. No bizarre discolorations or purple splotches -

Oh, fuck. His face had been clear, but there were marks all over his neck, God, fuck, Tommy was going to _die_ of this _stupid_ disease and it was all _Benry's_ fault. Stupid fucking typical Benry not being careful or thinking about consequences.

Gordon was about to open his mouth and say something really fucking stupid when it clicked that, yeah, this _was_ Benry's fault. But... not in the way he'd assumed it was. When he realized, his breath hitched in a way that also informed Tommy that maybe when Benry said he hadn't left marks, he was lying. He was lying, and now Gordon was looking at him like he was going to... do something, something Tommy didn't even have the words for. 

It was almost too easy to assume Benry did it entirely on purpose, that he knew this would happen. It was in-character, for sure.

Tommy somehow managed to flush an even deeper shade of red, trying to pull the oversized shirt he was wearing up to cover his face.

Gordon was having none of it.

"No, no, let me see how pretty he marked you up." He was practically giddy as he (gently!!) pulled the shirt out of Tommy's grasp. Benry _never_ did this, not to either of them. At least, not that Gordon had ever seen. Maybe sick, consequences-be-damned-more-than-usual Benry was a good thing. A really good thing. Best Benry, maybe. No, okay, that might be too mean.

Tommy pushed Gordon away, just a bit, in fake disgust. "Oh my God, please - don't ever say it like that, that's the _worst_!"

"Why not? It's true. Looks good on you. Just, you know, let me in on it next time, okay?"

"Okay, I - okay. Deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOT NSFW JUST KISSING NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS FUCK ?? EVER?? anyway continuation of sick times.
> 
> like i said. no energy or ideas for the prompts for these 2 days so heres an apology. accept it 
> 
> gordon loses his mind at the concept of missing out on whatever the fuck benry and tommy were doin 😳
> 
> im currently waiting to get dunked on for buying the wayneradiotv.com url so ill let yall know how that goes. it currently redirects tho so. lol


	8. holdin hands :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BACK FROM THE DEAD FOR FLUFFTOBER. LIKE A ZOMBIE I GUESS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer i have autism. i wrote this very quickly before work. if theres mistakes ill catch em later. im doin shorter snippets this time around!! more manageable. bless

Tommy isn’t a touchy-feely person. He never really has been. The concept of people touching him, especially at random, makes his skin crawl - it _sucks_. So much effort in his life has been dedicated to avoiding making physical contact with others - handshakes from strangers, hugs from people he barely knew, hell, even Coomer putting a hand on his shoulder in Black Mesa was enough to nearly send him into a fit. 

But there’s an exception to every rule, he figures. That’s what he thinks, the first time Benrey playfully shoulder checks him in the hallway after a week of flirting with him in the breakroom - more of a shock than a discomfort. The first time Gordon puts a hand on his cheek after the Resonance Cascade, and every time after, less and less of a thing that puts him on edge, and more of a thing that puts him at ease. 

It’s weird. It doesn’t make sense to him. It’s like if you could cure burn wounds with more fire. It’s like healing a cut with a sword. It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works every fucking time.

Gordon grabs his hand while they’re weaving their way through foot traffic at the local mall, because Benrey _had_ to have a physical copy of the Heavenly Sword remaster the day it released, here at this stupid GameStop, on December 23rd - but it’s _fine_. It’s all fine, because all the thought put into carefully weaving around groups of people, all the stress of accidentally touching strangers, it all fades a little when Gordon’s fingers brush against his. 

So he slows down so that Gordon can catch up, what with his tiny legs and all. Benrey’s leading, and he’s always been the kind to walk forward and never look back, but Gordon has always struggled with keeping up with the group. Black Mesa didn’t do him any favors.

But he slows down. He knows where the store is, so they can meet Benrey there if he insists on racing them to the finish. And on most any other occasion, Tommy would be right there with them, but the mall is _so_ crowded, and he knows Gordon hates being left behind, and he really, really just wants to hold his boyfriend’s hand for a second. To calm down from being run into by a group of teenagers earlier. The anxiety of having someone tap on his shoulder and then be surprised when he’s not the friend that they’re looking for, or something.

It’s stressful, but Gordon’s caught up, squeezing his hand a little tighter every time people get too close for comfort, because Gordon’s there with him, too. A little less extreme, but he still understands, and it’s nice to have that with someone.

Now they just have to find Benrey in the GameStop.


	9. sharey clothes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and i said YES benrey short king rights

Benrey was five feet tall. He wasn’t always five feet tall, and he certainly wasn’t during the resonance cascade, but it’s where he ended up, because he liked one thing on Earth more than any other: feelin’ _comfy_. And there’s literally no better height for it, when both your boyfriends are over 5’6. Guaranteed holdable, guaranteed the little spoon in every situation - it’s perfect. 

But, more important than any of that, is how easy it makes it to just… steal clothes. Just fuckin’ steal oversized shirts and lounge around in them all day. Because who’s going to stop him? God? G-Man? The men who love him too much to complain about the tiny things? Ha.

It’s like... every time Gordon or Tommy see him in their clothes they drop everything for him. It’s a one-hit kill. Like an AOE, or something. A gun he can shoot to make them kiss him instantly. A spell that causes them to dote on him, call him adorable little pet names.

It works literally every time, and he uses it for his own evil purposes. Not just stealing clothes, but for, like, everything.

Sometimes he wants to take a nap, you know? Sometimes he wants to nap forever, like a little fucked up cat, and it makes it _so_ easy. But if anyone asks, it’s not his plan - It’s not his fault he _totally_ forgets what he’s wearing when he wanders out of their room in the afternoon, bleary eyed and still exhausted. It’s _not_ his fault that Tommy locks eyes with him from across the room and visibly makes up his mind, then and there.

It’s _kinda_ his fault when Tommy scoops him up bridal style and carries him back to the bed, deciding that Gordon’ll be fine cooking dinner on his own, and Benrey fully _knows_ that it’s his fault when Tommy curls up beside him. Convinced him that it’d be fine to nap together for a few minutes, despite the amount of effort he was just putting into cutting carrots. It’ll be fine. It’s fine. He’s not scheming to nap more, he _promises_. 

Eventually, Gordon will come looking, and he’ll fall into the trap as well. Dinner forgotten on the table and all. Benrey’s too cute. And he’s so happy to hear it, every chance he gets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!! sorry this is late. i forgot to finish it before i went to work :) and then i had to do a project for 8 or 9 hours and dsfskbdsfdfs im tired. short thing


	10. first date............. but like, again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 3 and god said no you will be 4 days late with this one

Gordon and Benrey cannot, nor will they ever, agree on what their first date was. 

To Gordon - regular, sane Gordon - it was months after Benrey came back into their lives. Months and months after the resonance cascade, well past the first anniversary of the disaster, after the apologies and the therapy. After dinners and talking and crying, _so_ much crying, from both sides. After all the anger and the catharsis.

That’s what it had taken for Gordon to look at Benrey and not feel sick, or scared, or _angry_. The feelings ended up being something else entirely, by then. Some kind of fondness, something that was warm and something that scared him a little bit, but in a different way.

He’d asked him out to the park with him one day, leaving Joshua at home with Tommy, and Benrey had been confused. Confused, and anxious, now that Gordon knew how to read it. But he’d relaxed pretty quickly, and Gordon had thought for a second about holding their hand just to push _that_ right back down. Save it for later.

Benrey didn’t agree, though. Because, to Benrey, their first date was far before any of this _park_ nonsense. It was _way_ back. Before the resurrection and the apologies and all that.

It was the final boss fight, actually.

Okay, in his defense, it had it all! It had everything you could ever _want_ in a date: action, excitement, drama - it just was missing the part that Benrey was so sure it’d have. He was so sure that, somewhere in there, Gordon would realize it wasn’t _that_ serious - he hadn’t meant to hurt them, in that last fight. He hadn’t planned to fire a shot at them directly, and, as far as _he’s_ aware, they walked out without a scratch on them. Just some Sweet Voice clinging to their clothes.

Earlier, sure, he’d intended a bit of harm. A lot, sometimes. With the arm thing. He’d intended to do exactly what his programming had insisted he do, and he did it perfectly willingly - be the antagonist. It was funny, until it wasn’t, but it was too late to back out.

By the final boss, he’d become so disillusioned with the whole plot that none of it meant anything to him anymore. He just wanted to put his own spin on it, have fun and fuck around while still following the rules, just enough to skate by, but no matter how hard he tried to make his speech incomprehensible on purpose, send signals that something was wrong, it didn’t work out. Gordon was the protagonist, and he’s got protagonist stuff to do. The “protagonist stuff” didn’t include stopping the fight, and talking it out, and Benrey apologizing, and them hugging and maybe _kissing_ , or something - 

The whole thing may have looked a little bit worse than he imagined it would. And he knows it’s his own fault, and he’s apologized a _lot_ for it. And, maybe, it wasn’t _really_ what he thought their first date was, but it’s a lot funnier when he says it _is_. 

Gordon loves to argue about stupid shit, and Benrey loves him for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> INCOMPREHENSIBLE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS. should have the others today or tomorrow im just slowly catchin up. life is life. as always. this isnt my canon explanation of benrey, but it is the pptc canon explanation of benrey, bc pptc is more "its a game" than most of my actual post canon interpretations. love this game land of video games and game


End file.
